Skeleton skirt



UNITED STATFS PATENT OFFICE.

E. G. A'IWOOD, OF DERBY, CONNECTICUT.

SKELETON SKIRT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 21,806, dated October19, 1858; Reissued July 26, 1859, Nos. 784 and 785.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, E. G. A'rwoon, of Derby, in the county of New Havenand State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement inSkeleton Skirts; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing, making a part of this specification, in which-Figure l is a side View of a skirt constructed according to myinvention. Fig. 2 is a view on a larger scale than Fig. 1, of parts ofthree hoops, showing the manner of connecting and suspending them.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in bothfigures.

The nature of my invention consists in a skirt formed of tape or similarmaterial and a series of circle hoops, when the tape is passed over onehoop and under the next below it in opposing oblique directions and thetapes fastened at the points where they interlock on the hoopsthemselves by clasping, sewing or tying. By this method of constructinga skirt the hoops are entirely supported by the tapes or straps withoutdepending upon the strength of the clasps, sewing or the tying by whichthe tapes are held in proper position on the hoops and thus increaseddurability is secured. The oblique arrangement of the straps or tapesgives a more steady motion to the skirt and carries the dress moreevenly and symmetrically as the straps are disposed more universallythroughout the skirt in a manner to give the dress a support at everypoint.

Said oblique arrangement also prevents that painful swinging or wigglingof a ladys dress so common to those skirts having the straps placedperpendicularly and not braced laterally or diagonally. These benefits,I am aware are not altogether peculiar to my skirt, for in the knitfabric the threads fill up all the spaces between the hoops, the threadrunning diagonally and tying or interlocking midway of the spacesbetween the hoops. This construction of knit skirt gives as perfect andsymmetrical set to the dress as mine, but there are objections to itsuse because it hangs into objects and has its meshes broken and when onemesh breaks there is nothing to prevent a series of others giving waywith it and the consequent formation of a very large rent, whereas, withmy skirt, the anglesof the tapes are .inde pendent of each other andwhen one angle is broken, none of the other angles are afiected thereby;this results from confining the interlocking portions of the tapes onthe hoops by clasps sewing or tying. One of my skirts with eleven hoopswill, owing to the peculiar universal disposition of the tapes or strapsanswer as well, if not better for all purposes than a skirt withthirteen hoops.

A, A, are the hoops which extend all around the skirt and which may beof any kind commonly used.

B, B, are springs which form the bustle.

C, .C, are the straps which connect and suspend the hoops. The manner ofapplying these straps is best illustrated in Fig. 2, where the metalclamps are omitted and where it will be seen that each strap is passedover one hoop, then obliquely down to and under the one below it, andthence obliquely in the opposite direction up to and over the first one,and so on continuously all the way or as far around the hoops as may bedesired. This arrangement forms a series of loops where the straps passover and under the hoops and each strap is passed over and under itsrespective hoops so as to interlace with the loops of the straps aboveand below it, excepting of course the top and bottom straps the formerof which can only pass through loops in a strap below and the latterthrough those in the strap above as will be obvious. The several tapesthus combine to form as it were a latticework, which gives a more nearlycontinuous support to the garment outside it than when the straps arearranged vertically, and which thus makes the skirt Very superior. Inthe skirt represented in Fig. 1, this arrangement of straps isdiscontinued in a portion of the front where the lap joints in the hoopsare made to permit the circumference of the hoops to be adjusted orvaried, and straps D, D, running directly up and down are employed inthis portion of the skirt.

a, a, (Fig. 1) are the metal clamps, which are composed simply of narrowstrips of metal plate of a length sufiicient to lap nearly or quitearound the width and thickness of the hoops. These clamps are appliedaround the hoops and straps at the points where the loops in the latterhang on and suspend the former and also to form junctions between theextremities of the is passed over one hoop and under the next straps andthe hoops; the said clamps being below it in opposing oblique directionsand pinched tightly upon the hoops and straps the tapes fastened at thepoint Where they so as to attach them securely and prevent interlock onthe hoops themselves by clasp- 15 5 any slipping either of the straps orhoops. ing, sewing or tying, substantially as and I do not confinemyself to any form for for the purposes set forth. the metal clamps a,a. 7

What I claim as my invention and desire ATWOOD to secure by LettersPatent, is Witnesses: 10 A skirt formed of tape or similar material GEO.PLATT,

and a series of circle hoops, When the tape CHAS. A. STERLING.

[Fmsr PRINTED 1911.]

